From skill to technology
From There are various types of knowledge, one of the most important books in human history that demonstrates a dramatic shift from Skill to Technology is the Encyclopedia, compiled by Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717-1783) from 1751 to 1772. This book systematically summarizes all knowledge related to skills and aims to enable individuals to become skilled without becoming apprentices. The authors of the Encyclopedia were experts in information, possessing analytical, mathematical, and logical abilities. Notable contributors included Voltaire and Rousseau.
The philosophy of the Encyclopedia stated that the achievements in the material world, such as tools, processes, and products, are produced through knowledge and its systematic application. It advocated for the principle that producing results in one skill also produces results in other skills. This idea was considered heretical by intellectuals and craftsmen of the time.
Interestingly, in the 18th century, there were no technical schools dedicated to the creation of new knowledge. The Encyclopedia was no exception. There were no discussions about applying science to tools, processes, and products, in other words, to technology. It would take another 100 years, until 1830, for this kind of thinking to be realized. It was not until the German chemist Justus von Liebig (1803-1873) applied scientific knowledge to invent artificial fertilizers and methods for preserving animal protein that such ideas came to fruition. However, historically, the contributions made by the early technical schools and the Encyclopedia were more significant. They collected, systematized, and made public the Techné, the secret knowledge that had been developed over thousands of years as skills. Through technical schools and the Encyclopedia, experience was replaced by knowledge, the apprenticeship system was replaced by textbooks, and secret knowledge was replaced by methodology. This was the essence of the societal and civilizational transformation that would later be known as the Industrial Revolution, brought about on a global scale by technology. This change in the meaning of knowledge was what inevitably led to the dominance of capitalism in the subsequent years.